Shipping carton



Aug. 25, 1964 w. B GILE SHIPPING CARTON 1 w/ e z p/viii. my? M f 3% m jm w ma l Aug. 25, 1964 Filed April 12, 1960 W. B. GILE SHIPPING CARTON 2Sheets-Sheet 2 fnuenfar zuzzzzamfi Gila United States Patent 3,145,901SHIPPING CARTON William B. Gile, Marion, 111., assignor to Borg-WarnerCorporation, a corporation of Illinois Filed Apr. 12, 1960, Ser. No.21,763 3 Claims. (Cl. 229--23) This invention relates to shippingcontainers or cartons for domestic appliances, such as automatic washersand dryers;

For use-in the shipping and storage of domestic appliances, such asautomatic washers and dryers, carton manufacturers are presentlyproviding two standard types of cartons for this purpose. These types ofcartons are known in the trade as the drum (tube and cap) type cartonand the regular slotted type carton. The drum type carton comprises abox-like tubular body of square or rectangular cross section and havingthe open top and bottom ends enclosed by caps having slide flapsextending and fitting over the open ends of the body and engaging theadjacent side wall edges of the tubular body, the caps being held-inplace by wire bands or fiat steel strapping surrounding the caps andtightly engaging the flaps. This drum type carton has considerable meritin packaging and shipment of domestic appliances in productionquantities, including its economical manufacture and also the facilitiywith which the carton may be economically made and the packaged cartonhandled during shipping and removal of the appliance for installation.However, disadvantages of this carton are that the carton is bulky andcumbersome; expensive due to the considerable amount of corrugated boardutilized for the flaps of the caps and the tubular body, the cost of thewire or steel strapping, and of labor costs as it requires two men toapply the wire strap bands or steel straps; and there is always thepossibility of the wire or strap breaking and the unit being droppedwith damage to the appliance.

The regular slotted type carton is used in the shipping and storage ofdomestic appliances by several major manufacturers. This carton isformed of a single corrugated board having a box-like tubular body withfour flaps on each of its top and bottom ends folded over and sealedwith glue so that two layers of corrugated board are provided on eachend of the carton. This type of carton has several advantages over thedrum type carton as it requires less corrugated board to be used; thecarton can be sealed by automated sealing equipment; requires less floorspace than the drum type carton; is a much neater looking package; andmay be more economically manufactured than the drum type caron. However,several disadvantages of the regular slotted type carton are thatmanufacturers are required to invest a considerable capital expenditurefor the equipment necessary to seal these cartons on production lines,and in addition, this sealing equipment requires a further expensiveinvestment in view of the substantial floor space area needed for theequipment; and the sealing equipment has the disadvantage of beingincapable of being readjusted in height to absorb and handle differentheight cartons rapidly. Further disadvantages are that it is necessaryto provide a wood frame, at least at the top of the carton, whenfolding'over the flaps, to prevent the flaps from dropping down into thetubular body; or, in place of the Wooden frame, an additional piece ofcorrugated board may be used to provide a firm support for the flapsduring the sealing thereof. In addition, these types of cartons utilizeonly a single thickness of corrugated board onall of the sides and edgeswhich frequently provides inadequate protection to the appliance withinthe carton as the'cartons fre quently break open during handling inshipment and for storage.

The primary object of the present invention is to provide a shippingcontainer or carton characterized by increased strength of the carton inshipping and storage handling, and'utilizing a minimum amount ofcorrugated board in its-manufacture resulting in considerable lowermaterial costs, and which may be readily assembled and then used forpackaging at considerably lower labor costs, than that of the presentstandard types of shipping containers or cartons.

An important object of the invention is the provision of a shippingcontainer or carton having the upper end of the tubularappliance-containing body of the carton provided with four edge flaps ofsmall width folded over and having sealing engagement with a capinserted within the upper open end of the carton so that each of thefour sides at the upper edge of the carton are provided with two layersof corrugated board providing sufficient strength to the carton toinsure ample protection of the appliance from externalblows duringhandling for shipment or storage.

Another object of' the invention is to provide an improved shippingcontainer as described in which filler strips are utilized not only toinsure the secure packaging of the appliancebut also to hold andmaintain the cap in position during the assembly of the carton and insubsequent handling and shipping of the packaged appliance.

With these and other objects in view, the invention consists of thenovel construction, arrangement and formation of parts, as will behereinafter more specifically described and claimed and as illustratedin the accompanying drawings, in which drawings,

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of the container in its set up closedposition;

FIG. 2 is a longitudinal sectional view through the container taken online 22 of FIG. 1, looking in the direction of the arrows, the appliancein the container being shown in'dotted lines;

FIG. 3 is a transverse sectional view through the container taken online 3-3 of FIG. 2, looking in the direction of the arrows;

FIG. 4 is anexploded perspective view of the container illustrating theseveral component parts of the container shown in FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in making thetubular box-like body of the container;

FIG. 6 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in'makingupper cap portion of the container shown in FIGS. 1, 2, and 4;

FIG. 7 is a plan view of the cut and scored blank utilized in making thebottom cap of the container shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4; and

FIG. 8 is a perspective View of one of a pair of lift forks used inhandling the carton.

Referring to the drawings in detail, wherein similar referencecharacters designate corresponding parts throughout the several views,the various parts of the improved shipping container are designated byletters; the letter B indicates the tubular box-like body'member orportion of the carton, the letter U'designates the top or upper end cap'or closure member of the carton, and the letter L indicates the bottomor lower end cap or closure member of the-carton. The letters BB', UB,and LB respectively designate the cut and scored blanks from which thebody member B of the carton is formed, the'upper or top end cap U isformed, and the bottom or lower cap end L is formed.

The carton is substantially square in cross section and includes thetubular body portion or member of corrugated board designated at Bhaving four side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13, the side walls and 12 beingparallel to each other and the side walls 11 and 13 also being parallel.For this purpose, the blank BB is scored along spaced parallel lines 14and, when folded along these lines, define the side walls 10, 11, 12 and13. The side wall 10 of the blank BB has an outwardly extending flap 15extending longitudinally of the free edge thereof and the blank isscored and folded along the line 16 to define this flap 15. Upon foldingthe blank BB on the scored lines, the flap 15 is positioned beneath theedge of the side wall 13 and firmly united thereto by glue insertedbetween the flap 15 and the edge of the side wall 13, as shownparticularly in FIG. 3, to form the body portion B of the carton. Theupper and lower edges of the side walls 10, 11, 12 and 13 of the blankBB are provided with integral top flaps or flanges 17, 18, 19 and 20.and bottom flaps or flanges 21, 22, 23 and 24. The top flaps are definedby and may be folded along the longitudinally extending score line 25and the bottom flaps are defined by and are foldable along thelongitudinally extending score line 26, each of the score linesextending the length of the blank BB as shown in FIG. 5. The blank BB isalso provided with V-shaped notches 27 along its upper and lower edgeswith the vertices of each V-shaped notch terminating at the score lines25 and 26. In addition, the top and bottom flaps 20 and 24 of the wall13 have diagonal edges 28 and 29, and the side wall 10 has its upper andlower flaps 17 and 21 provided with diagonal edges 30 and 31 terminatingat the top and bottom ends of the score line 16. Upon folding of theblank BB as previously described, the upper and lower flaps of the bodyportion B of the carton are disposed in the position shown in FIG. 4and, as the upper and lower flaps are moved inwardly toward each otheralong the score lines 25 and 26, the adjoining diagonal and V-shapededges of the flaps meet in proximate abutting relation to each otherwith the top flaps lying in a single plane and bottom flaps also beingin a common plane as shown in FIGS. 1, 2 and 3.

Referring now to the upper or top end cap U of the carton, the capcomprises a blank UB of corrugated paper (FIG. 6) substantially squarein shape and having score lines 32, 33, 34, and 35 permitting folding ofthe blank to provide flaps 36, 37, 38 and 39 to provide the cap U; Itwill be seen that the blank UB is provided with V-shaped notches 44 ateach of the four corners thereof whereby the adjacent edges of theflaps, when folded, will be in close proximity to each other and bedisposed in a common plane. As will be noted from FIGS. 4 and 6, theside flap 39 is of greater width than the uniform widths than the otherside flaps, the flap 39. having spaced openings 40 and 41 therein.Secured to the top end cap blank UB, as shown in dotted lines in FIG. 4,is a wood board 42 secured in any suitable manner to the blank with theboard disposed closely adjacent to the score line 35. and extendinglongitudinally between and terminating at the score lines 32 and 34adjacent the flaps 36 and 38. As seen in FIG. 4, the board 42 is of suchthickness as to be disposed above the openings 40 and 41 in the flap 39of the cap for a purpose to be described herinafter. It will be notedthat the openings 40 and 41 may be punched through the flap 39 withportions shown at 43 extending within the end cap as shown in FIG. 2.

Referring now to the lower end cap L in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4 and the blankLB in FIG. 7 the blank LB is formed of corrugated paper square in shapeand having score lines 45 so that the longitudinal side edges of theblank may be folded to provide four fiaps 46 to form the lower end cap Las shown in FIGS. 2, 3, and 4. It will be noted that the blank LB isprovided with V-shaped notches 47 at each of its four corners so thatthe adjacent ends of the flaps are in close proximity to each other andbe in a single plane, upon folding of the flaps.

In the assembly of the carton and for packaging a domestic appliance,such as an automatic washer AW indicated in dotted lines in FIG. 2, theblank BB is formed and folded and the flap 15 secured to the side wall13, as previously described, to provide the tubular box-like body memberB. The lower end cap L, provided by the blank LB formed and folded asdescribed, is then inserted within the lower end of the member B and theflaps 21, 22, 23 and 24 thereof are then folded toward each other andfirmly secured to the lower end cap by gluing, or the like, so as to becontained wholly within the member B to form the bottom of the carton asshown in FIG. 2. The automatic washer AW may then be positioned withinthe carton with a conventional wood support S secured to the bottom ofthe Washer by the threaded leveling feet F of the washer in conventionalmanner. As shown in FIGS. 2 and 3, the support S is received within thelower end cap and comprises three spaced parallel boards S1, S2, S3connected at their ends by boards S4 and S5, which are firmly secured tothe boards S1, S2, S3 by nails or other securing means connecting theseboards above the ends of the boards S4, S5 to provide a unitarystructure. The washer is secured to the support S by the threadedleveling feet F. After the washer and its attached support is insertedwithin the top of the body member B of the carton to assume the positionas shown in FIG. 2, shock absorbing corner posts or filler strips P8, ofV-shaped cross section and having a length extending from the top to thesupport S at the bottom of the carton, are inserted at the four cornersof the carton and pushed downwardly between the carton and washer tofirmly wedge and hold the washer at the four corners thereof againstmovement relative to the carton. The top end cap U, shown in FIG. 4, isthen inserted and positioned within the upper end of the carton so as tobe wholly contained within the carton, and with the flaps thereofpositioned between the body member B and the filler strips as shown inFIG. 2, and with the openings 40 and 41 on the flap 39 in alignment withopenings 48 and 49 at the upper end of the side wall 12 of the carton.It will be noted that the tops of the filler strips engage the top endcap, as seen in FIG. 2, to provide supports for the cap and to limitinserting movement of the cap to properly position the cap forengagement with the top flaps of the body member B. The flaps 17, 18, 19and 20 are folded down over the top end cap and then securely fastenedby glue to the cap. The carton and washer assembly is shown in FIG. 1.

The purpose of the openings 48 and 49 of the side wall 12 of the cartonand the openings 40 and 41 in the flaps 39 of the upper end cap U arefor the purpose of permitting insertion of forks FT of a lift truck, oneof the forks being shown in FIG. 8. Two of these forks areconventionally used in a lift truck and are provided with arms F1insertable within the openings of the carton for engagement with theboard 42 of the carton.

It will be noted from the foregoing description that the top and bottomend caps of the carton are substantially similar in construction andcooperate with the carton body B in an identical manner by beinginserted within the carton body member and having its top and bottomflaps firmly secured to the upper and lower end caps. It will be equallyapparent that the bottom of the carton may be modified to provide theconventional overlapping flap arrangement of the regular slotted cartontype, if desired. The advantages of my improved carton are that itrequires less corrugated board than any other carton presently used inpackaging domestic appliances; the provision of the top cap, insertedbetween the corner posts and the tubular body portion of the carton,engaging the tops of the posts provide all the supporting strengthrequired for the flaps of the body portion to be folded over to engagethe cap for sealing without the danger of top cap caving in; theprovision of the lift-fork engaging wood board being secured to the topcap permits ready lifting and maneuvering in warehouses and car loadingwithout any possibility of damage to the carton and its contents; asthere are two layers of corrugated board on each of the corner edges ofthe carton, the strength of the carton is considerably increased forlifting and handling; the carton provides the smallest dimensionspossible While still complying with uniform freight classifications; theflaps of the carton may be readily sealed by manual effort withoutrequiring a major capital investment for automated sealing equipment;and, as the end caps are enclosed and confined totally within thecarton, there is considerable saving in the car loading over theconventional drum or tube and cap type carton permitting a substantiallylarger amount of cartons to be utilized in the same car loading spaceand Warehousing space.

While the invention has been described in connection with a certainspecific embodiment thereof, it is to be understood that this is by wayof illustration and not by way of limitation and the scope of myinvention is defined solely by the appended claims which should beconstrued as broadly as the prior art will permit.

I claim:

1. In a shipping container, a box-like tubular member having meansclosing one open end thereof and the marginal edges of the side wallsdefining the other open end thereof being formed to provide foldableflanges, a closure member inserted and disposed Wholly within said otheropen end of said tubular member and having laterally extending edgeflaps engaging the inner surfaces of the side Walls of the tubularmember, said flanges being folded over and secured to the outer stu'faceof said closure member, said flaps having spaced openings thereinaligned with openings in the engaging side wall of said tubular memberand a board secured to said closure member adjacent one of said flapsand having the lower surface thereof aligned with the upper edges ofsaid openings.

2. In a shipping carton, a box-like tubular member having meansenclosing the open lower end thereof and the marginal edges of the sidewalls defining the upper end thereof being bent inwardly to formflanges, a closure cap inserted and disposed wholly within said upperend of said member and having laterally extending edge fiaps engagingthe inner surfaces of the side walls of said member, V-shaped fillerstrips positioned in said tubular member and fitting into the cornersdefined by the adjoining side walls thereof, the upper ends of saidstrips engaging and supporting the closure cap, said flaps beingdisposed between said side walls and said filler strips, said flapshaving spaced openings therein aligned with openings in the engagingside walls of said member, said flanges being foldable over and securedto said closure cap, and a board secured to said closure cap adjacentone of said flaps and having the lower surface thereof aligned with theupper edges of the openings.

3. In a shipping carton, a box-like tubular member having meansenclosing the open lower end thereof and the open upper end of saidmember being provided with V-shaped notches formed at the intersectionof the marginal edges of the side walls of said member to defineflanges, said flanges being folded to position the flanges in a commonplane with the adjacent ends thereof in approximately abutting relationto each other, a closure member inserted and disposed wholly within theupper end of said member, and having laterally extending edge flapsengaging the inner surfaces of the side walls of the tubular member, andti-shaped filler strips positioned in said tubular member and fittinginto the corners defined by the adjoining ends of the side wallsthereof, the ends of said strips engaging and supporting the closuremember, said flaps being disposed between said side walls and saidfiller strips, said flaps having spaced openings therein aligned withopenings in the engaging side wall of said tubular member and a boardsecured to said closure member adjacent one of said flaps and having thelower surface thereof aligned with the upper edges of the openings.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS1,979,956 Boeye Nov. 6, 1934 2,085,292 Bourland June 29, 1937 2,132,666Williams Oct. 11, 1938 2,277,674 Belsinger Mar. 31, 1942 2,597,848Reeser May 27, 1952 2,671,598 Rosen Mar. 9, 1954 2,730,287 Mueller Jan.10, 1956 2,918,205 Zeitter Dec. 22, 1959 2,937,799 Adams May 24, 1960

1. IN A SHIPPING CONTAINER, A BOX-LIKE TUBULAR MEMBER HAVING MEANSCLOSING ONE OPEN END THEREOF AND THE MARGINAL EDGES OF THE SIDE WALLSDEFINING THE OTHER OPEN END THEREOF BEING FORMED TO PROVIDE FOLDABLEFLANGES, A CLOSURE MEMBER INSERTED AND DISPOSED WHOLLY WITHIN SAID OTHEROPEN END OF SAID TUBULAR MEMBER AND HAVING LATERALLY EXTENDING EDGEFLAPS ENGAGING THE INNER SURFACES OF THE SIDE WALLS OF THE TUBULARMEMBER, SAID FLANGES BEING FOLDED OVER AND SECURED TO THE OUTER SURFACEOF SAID CLOSURE MEMBER, SAID FLAPS HAVING SPACED OPENINGS THEREINALIGNED WITH OPENINGS IN THE ENGAGING SIDE WALL OF SAID TUBULAR MEMBERAND A BOARD SECURED TO SAID CLOSURE MEMBER ADJACENT ONE OF SAID FLAPSAND HAVING THE LOWER SURFACE THEREOF ALIGNED WITH THE UPPER EDGES OFSAID OPENINGS.